Ahhh.
So basically, Mr. Perfect was failing, and the school was freaking out because it was football season and they needed their best player and crowd drawer on the field. And who better to stick with the job? The scholarship girl with the perfect average. The girl with no life.
And so here I was sitting at a table in the university library, waiting on Mr. Perfect. I glanced at the watch fastened around my wrist. Then I checked the time against the large clock hanging on the wall. The times matched up.
Romeo was late.
Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo…
I snorted. It was so loud it startled a girl at a nearby table. She jerked back in her seat, causing her chair to teeter dangerously backward and hover over the ground. I watched as she grappled for the table ledge, her hands grasping instead to the thick book open before her.
The book wasn’t a good anchor.
She yanked it right off the table as her chair barreled toward the ground. The chair, the girl, and the book made quite the clatter when they hit the ground. Everyone in the general area turned to stare.
You know you’re a clumsy person when you cause other people to fall down.
I started to get up, to help her, but the daggers she shot out of her eyes froze me in my tracks. I sat back down. Her face was flaming red as she huffed to her feet and packed up her stuff. Before storming off, she picked up the large book, and I had a sudden vision of her swinging it at my head.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around it and glared at me again.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
If her stomps to the other side of the library were any indication, I was pretty sure I wasn’t forgiven.
Well, that was eventful.
And a waste of time. I glanced at my watch again and wondered if I would get out of tutoring if he didn’t bother showing up.
Since I was already here, I figured I could at least do some of my work, so I bent down to retrieve my notebook out of my bag. When I sat up, I saw him.
He was standing just inside the glass doors that led outside. His shaggy blond hair was darker than usual because it looked damp. The ends of his hair curled up at the base of his neck, above the collar of his jacket. A navy-blue backpack was slung over one of his shoulders and his insanely large hand was curled around the strap, holding it in place.
Romeo was tall, well over six feet, with broad shoulders that tapered into a narrow waist. He wasn’t a bulky guy; he played too many sports for that. But even so, it was obvious his body was all muscle.
He was looking around, his blue eyes sweeping the room, likely looking for his tutor. I felt my cheeks heat when he glanced my way, and I ducked my head. But then I realized this wasn’t the time to be shy. I needed to tell him I was his tutor.
Holy hell, I was going to get to talk to him! Embarrassment burned the back of my throat. Talking to guys wasn’t something I did very often.
I looked back up to wave at him, but Romeo had already looked away. I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t very noticeable. I wasn’t the kind of girl that drew eyes and held a stare.
I watched him another minute as he looked over his shoulder at the tables on the other side of the room. The girl who fell out of her chair was watching him, her eyes eating up his face.
Could she be any more obvious?
Romeo caught her looking and his mouth pulled into a slow smile. I bit the inside of my lip as little butterflies fluttered around my stomach. He wasn’t even looking at me with that charming half smile and I was affected.
Ugh.
I didn’t have time for this.
I snatched the paper with his name and information off the table and marched toward him. Halfway there, I collided with the corner of an empty table and the unforgiving edge jammed into my hipbone. In the center of the table was a cup filled with pens and pencils and the force of impact knocked it over.
Writing utensils rolled across the wooden surface and some rained down onto the floor.
Sharp pain burned through my hip and I drew back, fighting the urge to double over as I rubbed the sore spot.
That was going to leave a bruise.
Doing my best to ignore the pain, I walked around the table to where the pencils were scattered on the floor. Bending down, I began scooping them up with my hand.
One pencil had rolled farther away than the others, and I had to stretch my arm all the way out to reach for it. Just as I was about to snatch it up, two overly large feet wearing a pair of Nikes appeared right beside it.
I pushed my glasses up on my nose and followed a pair of jean-clad legs all the way up, past the familiar jacket, to full lips and a chiseled face.
“Need a hand?” he said, tipping up the corner of his lips. Amusement sparked in his jewel-like blue eyes.
I opened my mouth to reply, but no sound came out. I tried again.
A little squeak escaped instead of actual words. I slapped my lips together and went back to collecting pencils.
And this was why I preferred animals to people. So much easier to talk to.
A rich chuckle floated over my head and my cheeks heated even more. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if my hair caught on fire from the force of my embarrassment.
He crouched down and reached for the rogue pencil the same time I did. Our fingers collided.
Electricity jolted through my hand and bolted up my arm. Shocked, I gasped and fell back. All the pencils in my hand clattered on the floor around me.
Romeo gave me an odd look and then picked up everything in like three seconds flat.
I guess having large hands like that is useful.
When I realized I was just sitting on the floor like a complete weirdo, I scrambled to my feet and looked at him. He was already turning away.
“Wait,” I said.
He glanced at me again.
I held up the severely wrinkled paper. “I’m your tutor.”
The doubt in his eyes kind of made me mad. Did he think I wasn’t smart enough to tutor him?
“See,” I demanded, shoving the paper in the space between us.
That half-smile thing he did resurfaced, and he took the paper out of my grasp. “What’d this paper ever do to you?” he said, taking in its crumpled appearance.
I scowled. For starters, it was forcing me to talk to him.
He sighed and I thought he muttered something beneath his breath, but I couldn’t hear what it was. “All right, then, Teach,” he said, motioning for me to take the lead. “Let’s get this over with.”
Obviously, he didn’t want to be here.
That made two of us.
Want to read more? Download the entire Hashtag Series today!
Cambria Hebert is an award winning, bestselling novelist of more than twenty books. She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major, and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair.
Besides writing, Cambria loves a caramel latte, staying up late, sleeping in, and watching movies. She considers math human torture and has an irrational fear of chickens (yes, chickens). You can often find her running on the treadmill (she’d rather be eating a donut), painting her toenails (because she bites her fingernails), or walking her chorkie (the real boss of the house).
Cambria has written within the young adult and new adult genres, penning many paranormal and contemporary titles. Her favorite genre to read and write is romantic suspense. A few of her most recognized titles are: The Hashtag Series, Text, Torch, and Tattoo.
Cambria Hebert owns and operates Cambria Hebert Books, LLC.
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Before the
internet…before sext messages, selfies, like buttons, and d**k picks…epic loves and broken hearts played out offline, on mixtapes that became the self-made soundtracks of a generation.
Love in the 80s: A New Adult Mix is a collection of ten contemporary romance, new adult, stand-alone novellas set in the 1980s.
Written by award-winning and bestselling authors, one digital novella will be released on the last Friday of each month January - October in 2016.
The title of each love story will be a hit song from the year that the novella represents. The totally awesome authors include: Casey L. Bond, Lindy Zart, Cambria Hebert, Amber Lynn Natusch, Misty Provencher, Rebecca Yarros, Rachel Higginson, RK Ryals, Cameo Renae and Chelsea Fine.
Love in the 80s: A New Adult Mix was created by UTOPiAcon founder, Janet Wallace, and is co-produced with award-winning book cover designer, Regina Wamba (together they are WaWa Productions).
Read on to check out, Love in the 80s: A New Adult Mix collection.
My name is Tina. I’m a freshman at USC, a good student and friend…
And I’m a victim.
Hot guys make my brain turn to mush. So, the fact that I was arrested then survived a massive earthquake only to be shackled to the fox next to me can all be overlooked, right?
Okay, so I was arrested before I met Luke. A tremor that caused a blackout at the LAPD precinct where we were being held. Although technically, I wasn’t shackled to him, I was handcuffed, but still. Any and all lapses in my usual—totally sane, I might add—judgments, are his fault. Totally.
I wouldn’t typically do the things I did. I’m no outlaw. I’m a college student.
Click here to read now.
The road trip from Minnesota to Pennsylvania and back is meant to be the final adventure before four friends go their separate ways in the fall.
Except nothing goes as intended, beginning with the unexpected addition of Catherine Tate, Jessie Keller’s new girlfriend. Sam Kent denies his attraction to her while simultaneously deflecting unusual interest from his pal Hannah Lopez. Dickie Dean is the socially inept book lover who surprises them all.
Amidst a malfunctioning vehicle, being caught in the middle of a robbery, beer drinking, mosquito attacks, and other teenage drama, the five experience courage, broken hearts, fear, and laughter. Most importantly, they make memories.
Click here to read now.
Isadora Lancaster is in hell.
She passed on a European vacation with her parents, choosing instead to spend an amazing summer with her boyfriend. But that plan changed when she walked in on him and another woman. Now Izzy’s stuck in a town she’s avoided since high school, and has to face uncomfortable truths about her past—including the best friend that abandoned her during their senior year. The boy that broke her heart.
Available for pre-order now.
Releases April 29, 2016
1982: Maneater (Love in the 80s #3) Page 12
